Classroom Management Tips: Look at the class as one
“All learning is social and emotional.”
— (Knezović, 2020)
Introduction — Students want to learn…Only if they are motivated
Recently, I went to watch my daughter’s netball training at her club. I was quite impressed by one of the drills, where they learned to invade the opponent’s space in the shortest possible time.
In that drill, they were given a goal: To shoot within nine passes. Once they could do it, the goal was reduced to eight passes, then seven, and finally to six. After that, they tried it with defenders.
After every five tries, the team must discuss a strategy to achieve the goal. Then, they tried again. At the end of the practice, everyone did so well. They could make a shot within six passes, even with the defenders pressuring them!
I thought that was a very good inquiry-based approach. It inspires the players to think and problem-solve. They also learn soft skills such as collaboration and communication.
But can we use the drill in our Physical Education (PE) lesson?
Some teachers will say, “No.” The netball girls already have good skills and determination. In the Physical Education (PE) lesson, our students are not ready, and many of them are not motivated to learn.
However, there will be teachers who think, “It is possible!” If you are one of them, you might already be thinking of ways to overcome potential challenges. And you might be an effective teacher who has a growth mindset!
So, what makes a teacher effective?
I used to think that effective teachers conduct exciting and engaging activities. As such, I looked for fun activities for my students. But no matter what I did, students were still not motivated.
As I have become more experienced, I have learned that effective teachers do not merely use fanciful tasks. What made them effective was that they focused on two things: students’ motivation (Emotional) and teamwork (Social).
Emotional — Is the class motivated to learn?
In the next lesson, look at the class. Then ask yourself, “Are the students motivated to learn?” Are they just following your instructions? Or are they focusing on the task at hand?
If you sense that most students are not motivated, change it. It sounds simple, but we know how difficult it is. If it is only one or two unmotivated students, we might be able to change. But very often, we have a lot more!
Let’s imagine ourselves as students in a football lesson. And imagine we hated football because we had poor football experiences.
The PE teacher asked us to play a 4v4 game. It was daunting! Each time we had the ball, we lost possession quickly. After some time, we lost the motivation to try. We positioned ourselves at the corner of the playing area because it felt safer.
Our teacher saw us “not working hard”. Thinking we were lazy, she came to us and “nudged” us to support the attack. Then she realised many others were “lazy” like us. How can she nudge all the “lazy” ones?
She decided there was no point in going to every single “lazy” student. She still had many things to teach anyway. Hence, she moved on to the next tasks quickly, so that she could complete the lesson plan.
The next task was equally daunting. Soon, we realised there was no point in trying. As always, we just could not learn sports like football. As such, we gave up. Seeing that we were not motivated, the teacher decided to focus on those who “wanted to learn”.
Our students do not come to us motivated. Like the example above, many of our students have had poor learning experiences. Each time they learn a new sport, it may activate their negative experiences.
When these students see others improving faster than they are, they are more convinced they cannot learn. And when they are overwhelmed with anxiety, they either give up or blame someone.
In the above example, if the teacher continued to rush through the lesson plan and ignore our emotions, we would never learn. The strong would become stronger. And the weak would become weaker!
Learning is emotional. Our students can only learn when they think they can learn. If they believe they can learn, they will WANT TO LEARN. That is why we need to motivate them!
Given the limited time, it may not be effective to nudge one student at a time. Approaching individuals may make them feel we are judging them. They might also feel we spotlight their poor attitude in front of their friends.
Think about when your Head of Department (HOD) asked to talk to you privately. During the chat, he asked if you could improve in certain areas. The talk was private. And he tried to use the “Sandwich approach”.
But how do you feel? Do you feel motivated? Or do you feel like many people are judging you? How did your HOD know your “area for improvement”? Did any of your colleagues complain to him about you?
The more you think, the more stressed you become. Do you think you can still learn? Even with all the cushioning strategies, the feedback did not make you learn.
Similarly, when we try to nudge individual students, they might feel even more stressed. They might think, “Why is the teacher only talking to me? Am I really that bad? And are my friends also judging me?”
“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”
— (Knezović, 2020)
We want the students to believe in themselves because once they believe they can, they will find solutions to their problems. Hence, instead of nudging individual students, try motivating the whole class regularly!
Gather them. Tell them that you believe that they can achieve the learning goal. Then, remind them of the learning goal. They need to know the goal at the end of the task. And they need to believe they can attain that goal!
Then observe the class again AS A WHOLE. Watch their motivation. I believe there will be improvement. But do not set your expectations too high. Motivation does not change overnight. But you have to believe that it can change.
If you are still not satisfied with the motivation, shorten the task and then talk to them. Put yourself in their shoes. And you will know how to inspire them. Do not second-guess your ability. Just do it and it will get better!
Social — Is the class working together?
However, increasing their confidence is still not enough. Learning is social. This means their motivation to learn is also affected by the people around them.
Imagine you have a student, “Student A”, who was motivated by your pep talk. He was excited about practising the volleyball set with another student, “Student B”. Student B was equally motivated.
However, they soon realised the volleyball set was more difficult than they thought. Student A could not set the ball high enough for Student B. And when he did, the ball was too far for Student B to hit.
Student B kept telling Student A to hit higher and more accurately. He thought he was giving good feedback. However, Student A was overwhelmed by all the feedback.
On one hand, Student A was frustrated that he could not get a simple pass right. On the other hand, he was upset that Student B kept judging him.
As both students became frustrated with each other, they could not learn anymore. As such, both students made even more mistakes.
Then, the situation became worse.
You asked them to play a 2v2 volleyball game. You encouraged them to do at least two touches before sending the ball across. To avoid getting any more feedback from Student B, Student A decided not to set the ball to him. He only hit the ball back to the opponent.
Student B was not happy. He thought Student A had a poor learning attitude.
You noticed Student A and B did not do more than one touch. You encouraged them to try setting up the attack. Frustrated, Student B complained to you about Student A: “He refused to set the ball to me!”
Can Student A and Student B learn anything? And let’s not forget that we are not facing only two students — we are facing forty students. Some students hardly played any sports, and some students could be impulsive.
Throughout the lesson, the students constantly affect one another emotionally. If they affect one another positively, everyone’s motivation will improve. But if they affect one another negatively, the learning environment will become unsafe.
Every student wants to learn. If everyone is affected emotionally by every other student, how can they learn?
As discussed earlier, all learning is social. If we are lucky, we get to teach a class where everyone cares for and helps one another. Then, the environment will be safe. And all students can learn.
But how often do we see this kind of class?
If we want students who are motivated to learn, we cannot ignore the social aspect of the class. Again, observe the class as a whole. Is everyone helping one another? And are there many cliques?
If you notice some students are not cooperative, address the issue. If they are not helping another, address that too! Gather the class. Tell them, “Learning is stressful. If everyone is judging one another, how can you learn?”
We want all students to understand that ALL their friends also want to learn. But if they are unaware of their friends’ anxiety in learning, they might think their friends are not interested.
Many students went through what Student A and Student B had gone through. You see your partner not passing accurately to you, so you give some corrective feedback. After some time, you get frustrated because he did not follow your advice.
When your tone becomes agitated, your partner asks you to shut up. That is when you start to feel he is not open to feedback. Or he is rude to you. Then, the relationship becomes poorer. And the negative feeling will spread to others.
But what if you know he was very stressed making each pass? And what if you know he was worried you were judging him? What would you do? Would you continue to give feedback? Or would you change the approach by giving more encouragement instead?
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is crucial. When students understand what their friends are going through, they will help to make the environment safer for their friend.
All students want to be nice people. But when they felt their classmates were disrupting their learning, they would not see the need to be kind anymore.
Conclusion — Social and emotional learning should be situated
I believe in investing time to save time. In the first two months of the year, I will focus on building a motivated and helpful class. I prefer to see the class as one.
If I notice a few unmotivated students or students not helping one another, I will quickly talk to the class. I want to make my intention clear to everyone. And I do not want to let the “fire” spread.
So much research has already proven that learning is not a transmission of information. They have to practice, connect the dots and construct the learning by themselves.
But that can only happen when they feel safe and motivated to learn. That is why SEL is even more important in the classroom.
The challenge is that when we look at students with such low motivation, we tend to think that it is impossible to change their behaviour. After all, if so many teachers have given up on them, what makes us think we can?
Yes, you can! You have the ability to turn a learning environment positive. Put yourself in their shoes and you will know what to say. I am sure you have inspired someone before. Now, use your wisdom to inspire all your classes!
When we address the issue as a class, we are using the power of social capital. When we solve the problem as a class, we do only one thing. Because learning is social and emotional, motivated students will influence others to change.
On the other hand, if we look at individual problems, we are doing forty things. And because learning is social and emotional, the students might think you were finding fault with them and not the others.
As you continue to instil good values in the class, the students will know you care. Learning is social and emotional. When the class becomes motivated and caring, the positive vibe will spread.
You just have to believe you can make the change.
References
Knezović, N. (2020). All Learning is Social and Emotional : Helping Students Develop Essential Skills for the Classroom and Beyond. Acta Iadertina, 16(2).
